At Least 11 Dead in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas After Severe Weather Sweeps Region

Valley View, The Gulf Observer: Powerful storms killed at least 11 people and left a wide trail of destruction Sunday across Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas after obliterating homes and destroying a truck stop where drivers sought shelter during the latest deadly weather to strike the central U.S.

Seven deaths were reported in Cooke County, Texas, near the Oklahoma border, where a tornado on Saturday night plowed through a rural area near a mobile home park, officials said. The storms also caused damage in Oklahoma, where guests at an outdoor wedding were injured. Tens of thousands of residents were without power across the region.

“It’s just a trail of debris left. The devastation is pretty severe,” Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington told The Associated Press. Among the dead were two children, ages 2 and 5, the sheriff said. Storms also destroyed a nearby truck stop where dozens of people had rushed to take shelter. The dead in Texas included three family members who were found in one home near the small community of Valley View, Sappington said.

Officials said multiple people were transported to hospitals by ambulance and helicopter in Denton County, Texas, but the full extent of the injuries was not immediately known.

At least two people were reported killed in Arkansas, including a 26-year-old woman who was found dead outside a destroyed home in Olvey, a small community in Boone County, according to Daniel Bolen of the county’s Office of Emergency Management. Another person died in Benton County, Arkansas. Melody Kwok, a county communications director, said multiple other people were injured, and emergency workers were still responding to calls.